Sand Silo...

Scott Pavalko, Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Lemont, IL:

"Those of you who have played the 18th hole of Dubsdread have most likely have noticed the proximity of our maintenance facility to the 18th fairway. This cluster of green buildings is "central command" for all maintenance that occurs on the golf course. In peak season, we have over 75 employees working out of this facility.

One interesting structure at our maintenance complex is the "sand silo". The sand silo is used to store topdressing sand that is kiln dried. We use this sand for topdressing because it is easier to incorporate into the putting green surface. (We will give a more detailed description of topdressing in a future post.) Our silo was constructed in 1968 and we are very fortunate to have it. Though sand silos have become more and more common, ours is much larger than most. Ours is able to hold 100 tons of kiln dried sand. Most modern day silos are designed to hold a little more than one quarter of ours.

Recently it was discovered that our silo was leaking. The thousands of tons of sand that have been put in and taken out of the silo have finally taken their toll. Some holes had formed on the intake pipe and much of it had worn very thin. We brought in Suburban Welding and Steel to make the repairs.

It was determined that lowering the silo to the ground and making the repairs at ground level would be the safest and most efficient way to make the repairs. The old intake was removed and new piece of pipe was welded into the silo. The silo was then lifted by crane back into place. Hopefully this new intake pipe lasts as long as the old one, (approximately 45 years)."

Silo being lowered to the ground	Silo removed from stand
New intake pipe welded in place	New intake pipe from inside the silo

Visit Scott's blog at coghillgrounds.blogspot.com.

Green venting, green sand...

Tony Nysse, Pine Tree Golf Club, Boynton Beach, FL:

"On Monday, February 11th, we will be venting the putting greens, as we have in the previous months. This venting will get us past the Men's Invitational in the middle of March. With all the golf that we have experienced over the last 6 weeks, the greens are ready to be opened up and breathe. We will roll the greens in 2 directions immediately after the venting and they will be smooth prior to play starting at 10am.

"We are going to try using GREEN, kiln dried sand, thus minimizing any visual effect in the turf canopy and the surrounding collars..."

Later in the day, we will follow up the venting and rolling by topdressing the greens. We are going to try using GREEN, kiln dried sand, thus minimizing any visual effect in the turf canopy and the surrounding collars. We are hopeful that this will blend in very well. We would be interested to hear your feedback on the use of the green sand." (posted Feb 10)

Visit Tony's blog at pinetreegm.blogspot.com.

Balancing the soils for the best conditions...

Scott Mauldin, The Foundry Golf Club, Powhatan, VA:

"Nutec Soils is here to perform the soil testing and layout the GPS setting for the precision fertility program First, the sampling will occur with in a 30 foot circle several times on each hole. For example, we had 39 soil sample bags collected on hole number one. Second, each bag is placed on the ground until Marcus comes by and plugs in the GPS coordinates. Once the samples come back from testing Nutec will use that data in conjunction with the GPS coordinates. This will show us precisely which nutrients are deficient or too high. We will use this information to precisely build a program for each hole. Nutec has specialized equipment that will allow him to apply the precise amount of product where it is needed.

Several of the turf care staff members are collecting the samples.

Marcus is collecting the samples and plugging in the GPS coordinates.

The advantage of this is we can add high amounts of nutrients where we need them and not put any in the areas where it is not needed. Most courses do soils samples using an average, we are doing it to be exact to produce healthy turf. We are also spending less money on fertilizer because only the product that is needed is being applied."

Visit Scott's blog at foundryturf.com.

Aerification is Monday, March 11...

Jim Alwine, Bernardo Heights Country Club, San Diego, CA:

"So, what's the most important date of the year for Bernardo Heights Country Club? I'll give you a few hints: It coincides with the first full day of daylight savings time, it involves poking a lot of holes in the ground, and most golfers don't care for this day at all. Yes, it's this Monday when we get to open up the greens with some 3/8 inch tines. Out with the bad and in with the good.

The bad is old layers, thatch, and compacted soil. The good is high quality sand, organic fertilizer, and slow release nutrients. Soil temperatures have been steadily climbing and will aid the greens in the healing process. Another huge help is the full inch of rain that came in last night. I'd say it was perfect timing to flush the salts and allow the soil enough time to dry before we begin Monday's process.

It is very important to test all the machines before we get started on Monday, because we only get one shot. If the aerifier breaks down, or the tine setup is too aggressive, we will spend a lot of time changing the plan, which isn't fun at all. This is already a dark AM to dark PM full day event, so we can't have any hiccups or down time. Therefore, we not only tested our machines on the nursery green, we also experimented with an area with very shallow roots due to little sunlight. The back left corner of the 6th green held up nicely, so the rest of the greens will be fine.

Our machines are all tuned up, the staff is ready for a long hard day, and the weather looks perfect. We have fertilizer ready to go with the rates and spreader settings already figured. The crew already knows their assignments for the day and the importance of the day has been made very clear. Of course, that has lead each and every one of them to tease me with threats of calling in sick. That's not going to happen.

So, we are ready to roll. We also have two huge piles of sand in the shop. By day's end, Izzo will need to find another beach."

Visit Jim's blog at: bhccturf.blogspot.com.

What are those Purple Spots?

Ryan Gordon, TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, WA:

"First, let me say, no... Harold and his purple crayon did not pay a visit to our golf course. Remember this classic book from your childhood? I read this to my three-year old son Knox at bedtime last night and in the book, everything is purple. Kind of like those funny looking spots on our greens and fairways.

I thought I would take the opportunity to explain what exactly is causing these spots to suddenly appear as of late. This phenomenon is brought on by swift temperature changes between day and night or mild weather followed by colder periods. Sounds a lot like our weather in March and April doesn't it?

Anthocyanin pigmentation on a green.

Typically, our turf is green thanks to a pigment inside the plant called chlorophyll. However, when we experience fluctuating weather patterns, another pigment called anthocyanin temporarily replaces cholorophyll as the main pigment in the turf. This pigment is found in many other colorful plants throughout the plant kingdom such as the purple petunias that we hang around the clubhouse in the summertime or the red geraniums on your back patio.

Not all grass plants demonstrate the effects of anthocyanin as it can be limited to certain bio types of turf (we have thousands upon thousands here at TPCSR) which becomes even more apparent as the changes in pigmentation kick in. Those biotypes that turn purple are producing sugars in the leaf on those relatively warm, bright sunny days. However, when night rolls around, temperatures drop significantly and the plant is unable to move these sugars down into the plant. With these sugars stuck in the top portion of the plant, they bind to our friend, anthocyanin and displace chlorophyll (the green pigment) causing the turf to temporarily turn purple.

Anthocyanin pigmentation on a fairway.

This biological phenomenon does not harm our turf and is simply a part of Mother Nature's quirks. It is also interesting to note that these spots tend to appear with stronger intensity on our more exposed areas which makes sense because these areas experience the greatest temperature fluctuations. (Think wide-open North end putting green versus sheltered #2 green). Once the weather patterns stabilize towards May and June, chlorophyll will once again become the main pigment in our turf."

Visit Ryan's blog at tpcsrturfcare.blogspot.com.

Paint, paint, paint...

Mike Ford, asst supt, Burl Oaks Golf Club, Minnetrista, MN:

"In the few weeks since the last post we have engineered the design for the new cooler stands. After constructing a paint booth, we are now in the process of painting the metal components of the cooler stands along with some of our metal tools such as cup cutters, cup setters and ball mark repair tools.

Shortly after we closed the doors for the season Nathan asked me to revamp our breakroom/office area. We relocated the lockers that used to line two of the walls in the breakroom to the shop area providing the extra room needed to create an office space for me, Benny, and Josh. Once I added two wall outlets for internet and one for power the room was fully painted. Everything got a fresh coat of paint from the ceilings to the floor. Josh's desk was then moved in from its old location in the shop coupled with two new desks Nathan scored for free on craigslist to complete the new office side of the breakroom.

We now have a new sign posted by our shops front door to make sure there is no mistakes in identifying our building as the Turfgrass Facility. Believe it or not we get a few strays from outside events up here looking for the clubhouse."

Visit the Burl Oaks blog at burloaksgolfclubturf.com.blogspot.com.

Expected Hatch Date is Quickly Approaching...

Paul L. Carter, CGCS, Bear Trace at Harrison Bay, Harrison, TN:

"March 17th is quickly approaching. What is so special about March 17th you might ask? Well it is the expected date for the much anticipated hatching of the first egg Eloise laid on February 10th. Hopefully a few days later little brother or sister will emerge from the second egg which was laid on February 13.

Both Elliott and Eloise have been very busy and attentive parents this year, with Eloise taking the brunt of the parental duties. She has stayed on the nest through bitter cold temperatures, driving rain, and wind storms that have swayed the treetop enough to make some viewers feel ill. After last years sad and disappointing failure of the two eggs laid we are praying for a happy and successful hatching and fledging of the two eaglets.

It has been great to see the attention the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam Project has received this year and we are very appreciative of all the articles, email and Facebook passes, and tweets that everyone has sent out. It has been especially thrilling to see entities such as TurfNet, The Golf Channel, and USGA spread the word about the project, along with emails and tweets from organizations such as Audubon International and GCSAA."

Visit the Harrison Bay Eagle Cam site at http://www.harrisonbayeaglecam.org/.